Archive for the ‘News’ Category

This graphic shows the relationship between actual harm caused by drugs and news stories about those drugs. Enlightening. Cocaine appears to suffer a particularly unmerited bad rap, with pot and ecstasy coming in second, and third, respectively. Nothing here should come as a surprise to the drug war veteran, but the data is good for a glance. One thing users may note is the non-zero death toll for cannabis users; presumably, they included questionable incidents like fatal car wrecks where the driver smoked beforehand.

This isn’t strictly stoner related but it’s still interesting. I happened across a good article over at the Huffington Post which provides an overview of the Anonymous movement and its growth and development. Click the pic to read the article. Here’s part 2.

“I remember Newt in his trailer before the filming started, he was scooting along the floor talking about blue bubbles and mini mee dragons,” Johnson Arnolds, a key grip on the campaign shoot told CBS news.
Things got really weird when Newt got onto the set and started talking.
“He was talking some really weird shit. We tried to tell him to keep to the script but the little rascal kept goofing around with that nonsense shit. In the end we just called it a day and four people had to escort Newt to his trailer because he thought he was on the surface of the moon,” director, Timmy Olsen, revealed.

You may have seen the video of the Massachusetts man who refused to open his door for police. The cops were called on a report of domestic violence, which they are required to respond to. They are not, however, required to physically enter the home for such a call. They insisted that they be allowed in this man’s house, despite his and his wife’s assertion that there was no violence or argument taking place. Just some overbearing neighbors. If you watch to the end of the video, you’ll see an officer “politely” telling them of why the police expect to have doors opened for them.

Their story doesn’t end there. That “polite” cop – the one that everyone uses as a justification for cops being ‘the good guys’ – filed for an arrest warrant on both the man and the woman. The charges? “Maintaining a noisy and disorderly house.” Now, was this a legitimate complaint that needed attention, or police retaliation from some disgruntled officers who felt their authority was threatened? The penalty for first-time offenders of that law is $150. Did these citizens warrant an arrest over $150? It’s such an absurd assertion I can hardly wrap my mind around it. Imagine being pulled over for an illegal lane change and then immediately taken to jail.

This type of obscure, catch-all law is being used with more and more frequency as an excuse for police to circumvent common human decency and civil liberty. To avoid landing yourself in this situation, do not give the police any indication that you’re present at all. Just stay quiet, stay away from the door, and try to wait ’em out. They’ll give up eventually.

No, it’s not a delicious fried pastry, it’s the product of American politicians doing what they do best: pandering to overfunded lobbyists and being malicious douche bags. Needless to say, Stoner Culture would most likely not exist at all if SOPA (House Bill 3261) or PIPA were to pass. You can also say goodbye to all your other favorite drug resources as well! Erowid, Bluelight, TCC, DMT Nexus, Opiophile, etc etc. I don’t think a single one of them would exist.

If either SOPA or PIPA pass, dark times will lie ahead for the drug enthusiasts of America. We will no longer have access to the resources that have helped make us responsible and safety-conscious drug users.

Us stoners have a reputation of being so-called “slacktivists” – only complaining about problems without taking any action or offering up solutions. So let’s change that image! Go here: http://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and tell your representative to vote against SOPA and PIPA as hard as they can. Remind them that as their constituent, they are working for you, more than they’re working for any lobby group or PAC.

Update: It looks like something happened! Google has reported 4.5 million signatures on their petition to stop SOPA/PIPA, and millions of others have signed at Avaaz, Fight for the Future, and the White House petition sites. An impressive number of websites blacked out their content, or publicly protested yesterday. Wikipedia, Craigslist, Mozilla Firefox, Reddit, Wired, Cracked, Ars Technica and Google (and a long list of 10,000 less prominent sites) went completely black yesterday, or joined the virtual rebellion by posting up messages and selectively censoring their sites.

In the most satisfying news, it would also appear that at least 10 senators have withdrawn support for SOPA. Three House Reps who initially co-sponsored the bill have backed out, weakening support at the very base. Politicians from all walks of life, including republicans from the deep South, withdrew their support. It may have taken the entire internet rising up, but it proves that – if nothing else – they aren’t completely bought out just yet.

We don’t talk much about politics here, I think mostly because we’re apathetic and/or disillusioned. There are precisely two politicians I genuinely think would be appropriate leaders of our fair country. One of them is the highly polarizing Ron Paul. No, I do not think he’s the second coming of Jesus, and I definitely don’t approve of his views on church and state or abortion. But overall, there’s probably not a more sincere, consistent and honest politician that actually has a chance at becoming president.

The other is the largely unknown former governor of New Mexico: Gary Johnson. A young, active, perhaps more progressive version of Ron Paul, Johnson has gained notoriety (and respect) for having climbed Mts. Everest, Elbrus, McKinley and Kilimanjaro, performing impressive 140+ mile triathlons, and a 100 mile run through the Rocky Mountains. He also survived a 50 foot fall from a paragliding accident and treated his pain with medicinal marijuana.

No, he is not a myth, though he might sound too good to be true. He is highly vocal about his disdain for the War on Drugs, specifically the War on Marijuana. In fact, he has been firmly (and loudly) of this opinion as far back as 1999, long before the argument was part of public discourse.

Nowadays, he is trying to gain footing to stage a serious presidential run, likely in 2016. Just today an op-ed piece authored by none other than Johnson was published in Big Government – a strictly right-leaning website. In the article Johnson argues for the end of the War on Drugs, citing the fiscal, social and international benefits that could come with it. And… well, I’ll let you read it for yourself:

Every anti-weed advocate just lost possibly their most valuable argument.

“The researchers followed more than 5,000 people over two decades and found that regularly smoking marijuana — the equivalent of up to a joint a day over seven years — did not impair performance on a lung function test.

“In something of a twist, the researchers found that compared to nonsmokers, marijuana users performed slightly better on the lung function test, though the improvement was minuscule.”

Epic. I think I’ll go take some puffs of this finely crafted BHO in celebration! While I do that, check out the rest of the article:

Come check out our links page, reader. We’ve got some new stoner friends to share with you. Maybe you’ll like them. You could hate them. Either way, we’d love for you to check them out and let us know what you think by leaving a comment. Tell it like it is.

So head on over to the links page, just give this little graphic a click:

This is going to be an atypical post for our humble website. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you might know that the state of Texas is currently on fire. The most noteworthy inferno – of the dozens of scattered flames – consumed much of a town very close to the state capital, Austin. Bastrop is a relatively small city south of Austin, with a unique ecosystem that cannot be found anywhere else in the central part of the state.(more…)